Hazy Shade of Winter
by TabbyOfTheSun
Summary: Stevie and Tim never knew their mother, so when she shows up the day of their father's funeral, they are reluctant to trust her. Only when it becomes clear they are in mortal danger do they realize they have to follow their mother on an adventure they never saw coming. Join these siblings as they face unknown peril on their way to Camp Half Blood.
1. Chapter 1

***Disclaimer*** I do not own most of the characters in this fic. I DO own Stevie, Tim, their father, Oakley, Cody, Joel, Kayla, Raven, Roan, and Taffy. All other characters are the property of everyone's favorite Troll, Rick Riordan.

***NOTE*** This fic has been rated PG. It contains a lot of Feels, but not much foul language and nothing sexually explicit. (Come on, the MC's are 11 and 9! None of that.) Please leave feedback and let me know what you think.

CHAPTER ONE: Time, Time, Time, See What's Become of Me

The first thing I realize is that I'm freezing. The fact that I'm suspended upside down, held in place by my seat belt, and there is glass everywhere is a little beyond my ability to understand. Then I see my father, and nothing makes any sense. 

"Dad?" I call. He's silent. He's not moving. He's still strapped in, too, and his head is at an odd angle. "Daddy?"

I think I know what's going on now, but I can't process it. Suddenly, I remember we weren't alone in the car.

"Tim? Timmy! Where are you?" I call. I struggle to unfasten my seat belt and fall out of my seat. Landing on my hands and knees, I ignore the pain as the glass cuts into my flesh and crawl out of the car. "Timmy!" I'm running now, not even sure how I ended up on my feet. It doesn't matter. All that matters is finding my little brother.

I see him a few feet away. Tim is short and still a little chubby with baby fat. He's lying motionless on the ground and I can't breathe. Tim never wears his seat belt, no matter how often I tell him he needs to. He's stubborn about it. It drives our father nuts.

"Timmy!" I know I'm screaming, but I can't stop. I roll Tim over, trying to prepare myself for the worst, but he's only slightly scraped up. More importantly, he's breathing. "Oh God... Oh my God, Tim..." I'm sobbing now. Way to be the big, strong older sister. I'm just a mess of tears and nastiness right now.

"What happened?" Tim asks me.

I'm not even sure. I can't remember how we crashed. One second, we were on the road, laughing and getting ready to go to dinner. The next, I was upside-down.

"Where's Dad?"

I try not to start screaming again. Dad is dead. I know he is, but I can't accept the words. How am I supposed to tell my little brother that we're essentially orphans? We never knew our mother and now we've lost the only parent we've ever known.

"Shhh, Timmy," I whisper. "Everything will be ok."

"Stevie, where is he? Where's Dad?" He knows I'm trying to keep something from him. The panic in his voice breaks my heart. I take a deep breath. Be strong, Stevie. You're the strong one.

"He's hurt, Tim. He's hurt bad."

Tim looks toward the car, but I pull him toward me and bury his face against my shoulder. He shouldn't have to see that. Heck, I shouldn't have had to see that, but it's too late for me.

"Timmy, I want you to sit here," I say. "Stay right here on the side of the road and don't move!"

"Where are you going?" He asks.

"Nowhere. I'm just going to try and flag down some help."

He nods. I stand in the middle of the road waiting, praying someone will come by. An eternity later, they do. I begin waving my hands frantically in front of my face. The driver slams on the breaks and stares at me for a minute before rolling down her window.

"You alright?" She asks me.

What kind of stupid question is that? I try to keep my temper in check. "We crashed... My dad's hurt... Please, we need help," I say. I know he's dead, but hurt sounds better. Hurt implies there's still hope.

She looks at the car ahead of us and suddenly seems to understand. She pulls out a cell phone and starts rambling to whoever is on the other end, listing our location and saying there was a crash. Then she steps out of the car. She reaches toward me and I pull away violently. I don't know this lady and I don't want her touching me.

"It's okay, sweetheart," she tells me. "I won't hurt you. I just want to see if you're hurt."

"I'm cut up and I think the seat belt bruised me, but I'll be fine," I said. "Go check my brother."

She looks at me with pity before she notices Tim on the side of the road. She rushes to his side and plays the mother figure. Tim eats it up. He's scared and, well, we've never had a mother to fuss over us, so I'm sure he appreciates it.

When the ambulance, police, and fire truck arrive, they ask what happened, and I can't tell them much. I really don't remember anything. They won't tell me Dad's dead, but I'm not stupid. They say Tim's in shock and they load the two of us into the back of an ambulance. They ask me if I have the number of anyone they can call, but I don't. It was just us. Me, Dad, and Timmy. And now, the two of us are alone in the world.

Tim passes out a while later after they treat our injuries and I finally allow myself to cry again. We're alone, and no one could care less about what happens to us. It's up to me to protect Timmy now, and I'm going to make sure I do just that.


	2. Chapter 2

***Disclaimer*** I do not own most of the characters in this fic. I DO own Stevie, Tim, their father, Oakley, Cody, Joel, Kayla, Raven, Roan, and Taffy. All other characters are the property of everyone's favorite Troll, Rick Riordan.

***NOTE*** This fic has been rated PG. It contains a lot of Feels, but not much foul language and nothing sexually explicit. (Come on, the MC's are 11 and 9! None of that.) Please leave feedback and let me know what you think.

TIM's P.O.V.

CHAPTER TWO: While I Looked Around For My Possibilities

I wake up shaking. Stevie's passed out in the chair next to my bed. They set us up in an on-call room while they wait for the people from Children's Services to decide what to do with us. I'm really scared, but I don't wanna wake Stevie up.

The man that comes into the room isn't a doctor. I'm not even sure he's actually a man. He looks pretty young. He smiles at me. "Tim?" He asks.

I nod, not sure what to say. "Hi," he says. "I'm Oakley Grimm from Children's Services. Is that Stevie?"

"Yes, Sir, Mr. Grimm," I say.

"You can call me Oakley."

"Daddy always says to call people by their proper names."

"Well, everyone calls me by my first name, but if you insist, you can call me Mr. Grimm. It just makes me feel old." He smiles at me. I don't smile back because I've suddenly forgotten how.

Stevie opens her eyes, yawns, and becomes alert really fast. "Who are you?" She demands.

"Be nice," I scold her. "He's from Children's Services."

"Hi Stevie. I'm Oakley," Mr. Grimm says.

She studies him and says nothing. She's being awfully rude so I decide to fill the silence. "So what happens now?" I ask.

"Well, Tim, now I take you somewhere safe for the night and I look into getting you guys somewhere permanent."

"Like foster care?" Stevie asks. She sounds really mad.

"Possibly, yes. Or you may even get adopted."

Adopted. Because we're orphans now. I'm trying to understand that, but it doesn't make sense.

"Try not to worry, kids. I'll take care of you. I promise you're going to be alright."

How can he promise that when everything just spun out of control? I want to believe him, but I'm really scared it's only going to get worse.


	3. Chapter 3

***Disclaimer*** I do not own most of the characters in this fic. I DO own Stevie, Tim, their father, Oakley, Cody, Joel, Kayla, Raven, Roan, and Taffy. All other characters are the property of everyone's favorite Troll, Rick Riordan.

***NOTE*** This fic has been rated PG. It contains a lot of Feels, but not much foul language and nothing sexually explicit. (Come on, the MC's are 11 and 9! None of that.) Please leave feedback and let me know what you think.

STEVIE'S P.O.V.

CHAPTER TWO: I Was So Hard To Please

The last two days have been a blur. Oakley's been making funeral arrangements for Dad, which I can't wrap my head around. Dad had a lot of money saved up, so it's not a concern. We're staying at Oakley's place until after the funeral. He is unofficially fostering us until they can find someone better suited for the job. Tim's been crying himself to sleep at night and spending his days trying to cheer me up. I let him try, and I fake as many smiles for him as I can, but I can't muster up any real ones.

"Stevie?" Oakley's voice breaks my thoughts up.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"It's time."

I know what he means. I look at my reflection in the mirror. The long black dress Oakley picked out for me fits perfectly and I don't mind it. I'm not a dressy girl, but black is alright. I'm wearing black sneakers on my feet over black stockings. Oakley insisted I wear the sneakers because he could tell how much I hated the idea of heels.

I nod. "Tim's in the car already," Oakley informs me. I follow him downstairs.

Tim looks so wrong dressed in black. He's a happy kid, always bouncing and colorful. I hug him as I sit in the back seat beside him. "You okay?" I ask.

"Yup," he tells me. I'm not convinced. "You?"

Not even a little, I think. "Sure," I say. He's not convinced either. We both let it go.

We get to the cemetery pretty quickly. There will be no church service. Dad wasn't religious. His co-workers and friends stand around. They look at us sadly, offering their "I'm so sorry for your loss" and "I know how hard this is" and "Your father loved you very much" speeches. They're not sorry. They can't possibly understand what we're going through. And I don't need them to tell me our father loved us.

While the guy running the service drones on and on about how great our father was and how much he will be missed, I zone out. I start looking around. It's too sunny. I hate the sun suddenly. Our father is dead, how dare the sun shine so obnoxiously bright? I wish I could make it downpour.

The casket is silver and big and probably expensive, but all I can think of is the fact that it's holding my father's body. He's mangled and broken and dead and we're hiding him in a box that's about to go into the ground. We're about to bury our father. We're about to lose him for good.

It's during these thoughts that I notice her. She's standing near the casket looking sadder than almost anyone else. I didn't realize it before, but she's actually really beautiful. She locks eyes with me and I'm confused. Why the heck is she there? She didn't know our father and she doesn't know us. All she did was call the ambulance. She's just some stranger. Why is she so sad?

Suddenly, an enormous creature comes racing toward us. I scream and so does Tim, but no one else seems to think much of it. Are they blind? I grab Tim's hand and pull him against my body, hoping I can shield him.

Oakley jumps in front of us and yells, "Get to the car!"

"But the funeral-" I start.

"Stevie, go! Now! I'll explain later!"

As the creature gets closer, I decide it's better not to argue. I pull Tim toward the car. He trips as we're running and hits the ground hard.

"Stevie!" He screams as the monster gets way too close to him for my liking.

The woman from the accident scene is there then. She scoops Tim up in her arms and shoves him toward me before looking at the monster.

"You don't want to harm the children," she says sweetly. "You're my friend, and I care for them very much."

The monster looks confused. "Now turn around and walk away. Go back to the one who sent you and tell him you didn't find them. Tell him they were gone when you came."

The monster walks away, still looking confused. I stare at the woman. She smiles at me and Tim and helps us into Oakley's car. Oakley joins us and jumps in the driver's seat. He freezes when he sees her.

"My Lady!" He proclaims. He bows his head.

"Now, there's no need for that, my brave satyr," she says. Her voice is like silk. It's so soothing. I have to fight to keep myself focused. "We're traveling companions now. You may call me Aphrodite." She looks at Tim and me and smiles brightly before sayings, "And you two may call me Mom."


End file.
